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Chapter 36
The Devil's Face (悪魔の面影, Akuma no Omokage) is the 36th chapter of the Kiseijuu manga series, written and illustrated by Hitoshi Iwaaki. Overview Reiko requests that Shinichi meet her at the local university. After attending the lecture on altruism, Reiko meets Shinichi to converse on the roof of the building. Reiko soon begins to taunt Shinichi with the fact that his mother was killed and holds up the baby as a shield. Running off, furious at what happened, Shinichi meets a fortune teller. She tells him that in order to close the hole in his heart, he must meet the person who first made it. Summary Reiko calls Shinichi and sets a meeting time and place without his input, frustrating him. Migi is fascinated at her timing, as she called right after they began to suspect her involvement. The next day, Shinichi visits the campus and decides that he could probably win a one-on-one fight with her as long as Migi is awake. He begins wandering around, noticing how different it is from high school, and checks her current location with Migi. Since he's arrived early he lounges on the grass to wait for her. In a class, an old professor is currently lecturing about animal self-sacrifice and altruism. Reiko has brought along her child, and multiple students come over to coo over it. The students wonder if Reiko is a student or simply a visitor, commenting on the child being sound asleep. A female student comes up to Shinichi while he lies in the grass and chats with him, incidentally scaring him away when she comments on how baby-faced he looks. The professor continues his lecture unabated, moving on to animals that have put themselves in danger for the good of the group, particularly animals that are assumed to barely have enough brainpower to think such as hive insects. He brings up the theory of a drive to preserve the species and its debunking due to the phenomena of animal infanticide. He then moves onto the gene theory, explaining that it makes all altruistic behavior make sense. Then he clarifies that the human mind is a little too complex to be fully explained by it, and states that deciding whether human environmental protection is selfish or altruistic would be an interesting debate. The students move outside after the lecture is done, with a few cuddling Reiko's child. Once she determines that the meeting time is approaching she leaves, grabbing her child out of a person's arms by the back of its jumpsuit. The other students comment on it. On the roof, Shinchi and Migi track Reiko's approach. She exits, holding her child in her arms, and explains that the other parasites rarely visit here, as well as there being a lecture she was interested in. She inspects him, and states that the two of them have combined, which is unusual. Shinichi replies by asking if the infant is hers. She says yes and that she hasn't done anything to it yet. She requests to exchange information with Migi again. Migi asks if she hired Kuramori, telling her that it was risky for both her and Migi. She dismisses it, saying she can change identity again. Migi then asks her what she wants to know, but Shinichi overrides him and demands to know about Hirokawa and his plans. Reiko states that she hasn't played much of a part in it, but also states that parasites have been developing and learning to coexist with humans. Shinichi is then angered by this statement, but Reiko clarifies that she means an inequal coexistence such as between humans and livestock, and that humans often say such things about coexistence themselves. Shinichi is still unable to accept this, which makes Reiko wonder. Shinichi's aura makes her child begin to fuss, and she realizes that Shinichi's mother is missing and likely fed on by a parasite. As she brings it up with amusement, Shinichi begins to panic again, at the same time becoming furious at her. Her child begins to cry loutdly and she holds it up, stating that to prevent her losing to Shinichi in a fight she'd have to use it as a shield. This stops Shinichi in his tracks. A student from earlier comes up to the roof, asking what's going on. Reiko dismisses her and leaves with the crying infant, contemplating its more observant instincts over human adults and shushing it along the way, while Shinichi exits the roof the other way. He runs off, asking himself how she could have known, and yells, "Move, humans!" when they block his exit out of the campus. Finally, he calms down far away and near a tiny fortuneteller stand. She asks for his hand, surprised when he hands her his left hand. She tells him he has a hole in his chest that can only be healed by meeting the woman who made it. He flashes back to his mother and begins chuckling, commenting that it's too bad he already killed her. Characters Navigation Category:Chapters Category:Manga Category:Volume 6